Mount Gay Rum

The situation—

In the world of spirits, there was a time that rum was the frat boy, hat on sideways, always ending up with a bad hangover. At 310 years old, Mount Gay was the oldest rum in the world and far too mature to be relegated to share a red Solo cup with some flat Coca-Cola.

The challenge—

With the launch of a new product—aimed squarely at the palate of whiskey and bourbon drinkers—Mount Gay needed to reinvent the image of rum and create an informed consumer base that understands the potential of the spirit.

The solution—

Our team envisioned an entire brand platform and multi-year communication strategy, which leveraged the brand's small stature within their category to the greatest effect, through activations, content, social media and exclusive product releases.

When we first came on board, the new brand was nothing more than a logo, a few typefaces, and a new bottle. From there, the team developed a strong voice and a unique visual identity that celebrated the rum's 310-year history through the height of display technology the time they were born: the woodcut.

Our target was the creative consumer, someone who valued being "first" with their trends and who always wanted to have a story to tell when they get together with friends.  So we created a campaign full of history and filled it with brand details that rewarded both the curious and the completist.

We kept the website simple, branched out into photography which told the story of Mount Gay's history in Barbados. Unlike brands which exist as marketing gimmicks, we left the pirates and parrots behind, in favor of actual stories about the birth of rum.

As we introduced this new point of view on rum, we needed to teach people how to drink it. Our drink strategy came to life at cocktail bars across the country and was messaged through storytelling which positions rum as the original brown spirit.

To populate their social feeds, we traveled to Barbados (rough assignment, I know) and captured images of the distillery, Allen Smith and his team at work, and the culture of the island that helped put rum on the map.

Packaging for their top-shelf spirit— including the cult-favorite Extra Old, which was rebranded simply as X.O.—was reimagined. The brief was to keep the historic spirit of the new brand while including thoughtfully refined premium design cues that position the liquid alongside its peers.

This led to the development of the Origin Series, pairings of unique rums in premium packaging which are blended to reveal the impact of unique processes and ingredients on the development of rum's character.

Along the way, we designed collateral pieces with a splash of wit and charm, like a blank notebook populated with dozens of anecdotes and mini-puzzles, targeted at bar professionals and highly engaged consumers to jot down their own new creations.